Carbondale Bytelife

. . . a blog about Carbondale, IL

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Cellar Beer Garden

Several interesting things on the agenda at the Liquor Control Commission and City Council meetings this Tuesday. One is this request from The Cellar bar, located underneath Paul Hampton Photography and Clayship Guitar, to construct a beer garden on the west (?) side of the building. They've paid the $400 fee so it appears they plan to offer live entertainment.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Traffic Counts

Thanks to a friend of mine at City Hall, I found this spiffy map of traffic counts throughout the state. It shows westbound traffic from Carbondale hits a high of about 28,000 a day out by Kroger West, drops down to about 14,200 where westbound 13 hits Murphysboro and trails off to about 4500 north on 127 leaving Murphysboro. Meanwhile on the other side of town, the Wal-Mart intersection draws about 28,000 cars a day while the Reed Station Road intersection sees about 29,600 cars. Meanwhile about 11,000 enter and leave Carbondale via South 51 while 10,500 use north 51.

Funny, I really though traffic was much lighter on the west side of C'dale than on the east. Maybe its the effect of the Carbondale Clinic and doctors offices out there?

Here's a link to the map. From what I was told, state route counts are updated every year and city streets, every five. click on Average Traffic Counts, the use the tool to work your way down to the area you're interested in:

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Code Violation?

From the WSIL website, it looks like there were three robberies and a shooting over the weekend. This part of the story is especially interesting:

Others just wish Carbondale police would increase their patrol of the neighborhood. Some students say they would feel safer if Lewis Park would install dead bolts or better locks on their doors. Others suggested more police patrols in this area late at night.

If their apartments don't have deadbolts, as the above paragraph indicates, it appears the Lewis Park apartments are in violation of the city ordinance regarding security standards (see near the bottom). The students may have referred to wanting a deadbolt separate from the doorknob itself, which the ordinance does not appear to require, however, this is certainly something for Carbondale building inspectors to look into.

4-4-13: STANDARDS FOR SECURITY:

A.Scope: All dwelling units within the city shall meet the minimum requirements as set forth herein except structures which, although providing sleeping accommodations, are primarily used for:

1. Medical care or other treatment of individuals suffering from physical or mental illness, disease or infirmity;

2. The care of infants, convalescents, or the elderly;

3. Penal or corrective purposes; and

4. Hotel or motel purposes and which provide temporary sleeping accommodations for hire used by transients with or without meals.

B.Alternative Materials And Methods Of Construction: The provisions of this section are not intended to prevent the use of any material or method of structural design or analysis not specifically prescribed herein, provided any such alternate is substantiated by suitable evidence.

C.Approval Of Alternate Material Or Method: The building and neighborhood services division may approve any such alternate material or method provided the proposed design is satisfactory and the material or method of work offered is, for the purposes intended, at least equivalent of that prescribed in this section.

D.Definitions: For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

CYLINDER: The part of a lock set that has an entrance for the key which thereby activates the locking mechanism.

CYLINDER GUARD: A hardened ring surrounding the exposed portion of the lock cylinder or other device which is so fastened as to protect the cylinder from wrenching, prying, cutting or pulling at attack tools.

DEAD BOLT LOCK: A locking device with a bolt that has no automatic spring action and which must, therefore, be operated manually by a key cylinder, thumb turn, or lever, and is positively held fast when in the projected position (also known as deadlock).

DEAD BOLT SINGLE CYLINDER: A dead bolt that is activated from the outside by a key, and from the inside by a knob, thumb turn, lever or similar mechanism.

DORMITORY: A building, not open to transients, where lodging is provided for ten (10) or more nonfamily persons, and no kitchen facilities other than one central kitchen facility, are provided any dwelling unit occupied by persons other than management personnel.

FLUSH OR SURFACE BOLT: A deadlock normally used on inactive door(s) that is attached to the top and bottom and/or side of the door and engages in the frame and/or base of the door.

HOOK OR EXPANDING BOLT: A dead bolt lock in which the bolt or bolts interlock with the strike plate into which the bolt or bolts are projected.

LOCKING DEVICE: A mechanical implement or combination of mechanical implements attached to the door, window or other access points of a building or structure which is designed to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the building or structure through the door, window, or other access point on which the locking device is activated.

THROW: The outward movement of a bolt or spring bolt which is measured by the distance which such a bolt travels, i.e., when the bolt or spring bolt is moved from the open position to the locked position (extended), it is said to have been thrown. (Ord. 92-77)

E. Multiple Dwellings, Dormitories, And Rooming House Security Standards: This section is not intended to require exterior doors serving as the required means of egress to the exterior of a multiple dwelling, dormitory and rooming house to swing inward. Such doors in that respect shall comply with the provisions of the 2003 edition of the international building code. All other doors to individual dwelling units within a multiple dwelling, dormitory or rooming house shall comply with the following provisions: (Ord. 92-77; Ord. 2003-72)

a. Single doors shall be secured with a single cylinder dead bolt having a minimum throw of one inch (1"). A hook or expanding bolt may have a throw of three-fourths inch (3/4"). Any dead bolt must contain hardened material to repel attempts at cutting through the bolt.

b. On pairs of doors, the active leaf shall be secured with the type lock required for single doors in subsection E1a of this section. The inactive leaf shall be equipped with flush or surface bolts protected by hardened material with a minimum throw of three-fourths inch (3/4") at the head and foot of the door. Multiple point locks, cylinder activated from the active leaf and complying with subsection E1a of this section and the requirements herein, may be used in lieu of flush bolts. (Ord. 84-103)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hickory Lodge Task Force Proposal

Last weeks C'dale Times had a front page article on the report from the Hickory Lodge Task force regarding what to be done with the Hickory Lodge property and it's a pretty good list: renovate Hickory Lodge, 170 seat theater and center for performing arts, botanical garden, walking paths, outdoor facilities for weddings and other events, and an environmental learning center. The general feeling of the board, I gather, is "Yes, these are great ideas, yes, we'd like to do them, no, we don't have the money."

However if the proposed Friends of Hickory Lodge fundraising organization gets established, as per the proposal, the monetary problems facing the board would certainly drop.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Sales Tax Agreement Disclosure

Following are the comments Dr. Linz Brown made at the Sept 18th city council meeting regarding the agreement between the city and SIUC to donate $20 million to SIUC:

Public Comments

Dr. Linz Brown

September 18, 2007 Council Meeting

On Tuesday, August 21, 2007, The City Council passed a resolution to“authorize the Mayor to execute . . . an intergovernmental agreement with Southern Illinois University Carbondale that will commit the City of Carbondale to pay the University $1 million annually for twenty years . . . .”

One week later, August 28, 2007, I sent the following letter to the mayor:

Read Letter

To date, I have not had a response to this letter.

This disclosure issue raises the following five questions:

1. Why was the intergovernmental agreement not disclosed at the public hearing or at the Council meeting?As mentioned in my letter to the mayor, this would be consistent with previous practice of attaching contracts, intergovernmental agreements, and other documents to proposals and resolutions placed on agenda.(I reviewed several recent intergovernmental agreements in the City Clerk’s Office.)

2. Why is it that other villages and municipalities in Illinois disclose their intergovernmental agreements before a vote and Carbondale did not with the SIU agreement?See Exhibits 1 and 2.

3. Why did the mayor and other council members feel that the people of Carbondale did not need to see or should not see the proposed agreement?

4. Did the majority of councilpersons who voted for the tax increase package realize that they denied other Council members their rights and responsibilities?The single vote of four members of the Council on the sales tax increase proposal and two resolutions as a package had the effect of denying the other three members of the Council the right and opportunity to exercise their responsibility to review and act upon a final document because the resolution authorized the mayor to execute the agreement.

5. Why did four Council members negate their responsibilities to act in the best interests of the public on this unprecedented commitment by deferring to one person to execute the intergovernmental agreement without review or oversight by the total elected body.

Also, in reviewing the intergovernmental agreements file, why is the mayor authorized to execute an agreement in a few instances and the city manager in most others.Do we sometimes have a city manager type government and at other times a mayoral type government?Is “executing” an intergovernmental agreement a policy function or an administrative function?

In conclusion, I repeat the request mentioned in my letter, i.e. that the agreement be available for public review and comment and that it be returned to the full council before signing.To ignore full disclosure is not in the best interests of the Council or the public.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Blues & Green

Last week I helped two friends get started with their own blogs. Musician Robert Russell (Ph.D.) who plays guitar in the Creole Stomp band and plays the Delta blues at home and on the road. You can often see Robert at Melange, reading a book, or sitting with his friends Darren and Chris. His new blog is called "Blues Boppin'" only one post so far, but it sounds promising.

More outspoken and outraged is a new blog called Wage Laborer by Greener than Thou -- made up of "diatribes by a worker who objects to the worsening conditions of labor, the environment and the attacks on our freedom and on other peoples of the world." Check it out. Is it on top of things? Or just over the top?

Campus Protest

About 120 people showed up last Friday in the Free Forum area on campus to protest the war and call for a pullout of the troops now. Not exactly a groundswell of support. Apparently there are also people protesting the war on a regular basis down at the Federal Building. Who knew? Not me.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

4 Lanes on 127

I see the Southern has come out in favor of this. Given that, last time I checked, only 7000 cars a day pass through the western end of Carbondale, though I expect this will increase with the advent of the new Wal-Mart. I expect far fewer pass through the northern end of Murphysboro. I don't know if this is such a wise expenditure of state funds. If there were traffic jams and wrecks on the road on a regular, or even irregular basis then sure, but to save 15 minutes drive time from here to St. Louis?

The argument for this seems similar to one advanced by proponents of the $20 million dollar donation to SIUC for the Arena and McAndrew Stadium, if you build it, development (or fans) will come

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Community Investment Program--Bikeway Network

Been looking over the 5 year Carbondale CIP in my free time this weekend. It's interesting to see some of the projects planed for the next 5 years that are funded as well as those unfunded (we want to do them, we know the estimated costs, but we don't have the money) and future (we want to do them, but we don't have the money and we don't know the costs). Among the funded projects are a bikeway network. This is a proposed series of loops around and through Carbondale. Initial focus is on existing bike routes with signage and/or striping. Eventually, this will lead to an interlocking system of on-street and off-street routes, including right of way acquisition and construction which connect shopping areas, parks and schools within Carbondale. Requirements for bike accessibility will be considered as future street improvements are made. Total estimated cost 3 million 39 thousand dollars.

From what I can tell, design work on this is scheduled to start in 2009. That should make the Bike to Work Day folks happy

Murphysboro Wal-Mart

Drove past the M'boro Wal-Mart location on my way out of town. Man, is that thing going to be big! I didn't realize how quickly it was going up or how out in the middle of nowhere it is (so to speak). You've got trees, then Wal-Mart, then trees.

I don't like the location because of the sprawl it's going to create but, from Wal-Mart's point of view, it makes good sense. Locating almost halfway between the two cities means its trading area will overlap both of them, pulling people from throughout Murphysboro and further west, and from the western side of Carbondale. With the closing of Kroger's, will those Kroger customers shift to Schnuck's or transfer their custom to Wal-Mart? It's highly doubtful they will shift to either the low price, limited selection of Aldi's or the higher quality but higher prices of the Neighborhood Food Co-op, since by shopping at Kroger, they have already shown they value lower prices and a better selection..

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Another location for Pig Out?

It shouldn't be held at the 710 Parking Lot every year. How much $ and city resources goes to the event..... What gain? Survey of local businesses do not feel it benefits. Currently, I'm working with business owners in the Town Square district who think some of the Pig Out money should be spread around town. I tell these people to get involved with the Main Street organization in order to make a change. Do you think the event could be held at Town Square next year?

Limited Posting

I'll be out of town through Sunday so will only be posting sporadically. I do have a copy of the Community Improvement Projects book to look through, courtesy of Councilman Wissmann, and am looking forward to that.

Packlite Outdoor Gear

Packlite Outdoor Gear, which was located on South 51 down by Unity Point School, is moving into the space once occupied by Rosetta Books next to Ragwear. There is product going up on the walls and a banner announcing the new business, which, for some reason, is lying on the floor inside the building. However, the company's URL only leads to this generic outdoor gear website.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Pig Out

The DE finally ran a full page story on the Carbondale Pig Out, two days after the event. I guess better late than never.

Kids activities were a bit sparse lacking. That was the main complaint I heard from attendees. There was the Fire Department's Smoke House and three inflatables for kids to climb and bounce on and the race track. No face painting, like the flyer advertised. The pony rides, which were a big hit last year, got canceled because because the man providing them got a flat tire on his trailer and apparently wasn't able to get it changed in time to drive five miles. The kids really enjoyed the inflatables, though.

Food went over very well, as usual. Bethel A&E sold out of all of their catfish, jambalaya and peach cobbler. In fact, they sold out of all the food they had by about 9:30 Saturday night. 17th Street Bar and Grill also did well and closed down around 10 p.m. The only place still serving anything was Paulette's and even they were down to a few items by the end of the festival.

Beer tent, not so good. From the main gate area, the crowd looked pretty sparse and the couple of times I walked through, I could have rolled a bowling ball through without much trouble. I think it was just too cool for people to enjoy beer that much. Plus as was pointed out in the comments, a lot of them were up at the stage in the evening, dancing.

A good event overall. As people were changing back in their tokens for cash, I made it a point to ask if they enjoyed themselves and, with the exception of a couple, all said yes and that they'd be back next year. Those that didn't said it was only because they got there too late to get food.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Blue Ribbon Panel Already Questioned

From the Chronicle of Higher Education's website. Unfortunately, you need to purchase a day pass to read the entire article. It appears that appointing a panel of academics from SIUC may not be the best way to insure an impartial reading of the papers. I figure the panel will go ahead but would rather have seen a panel of academics from outside SIUC to ensure impartiality.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Apple Festival vs. Pig Out

The two events have always seems to co-exist peacefully on the same weekend (There was a reason why the Pig Out went for the same weekend as the Apple Festival but I can't remember why). However, this year, the Apple Festival seems to be getting twice as much publicity as the Pig Out. There's bee a couple of stories in the Southern about the Apple Festival, but nothing until today about the Pig Out. The DE ran a story yesterday about the Apple Festival, nothing about the Pig out. I've heard a couple of mentions on WSIU about the Apple Festival, nothing about the Pig Out. In the publicity contest, it's all Apple Festival.

Dick's Opens, Ponderosa Closes

I was driving by the new Dick's Sporting Goods in the old K-mart store this morning about 7:55 and saw about a dozen people waiting outside to get in. Looked like there were a lot more people on the inside already for the Chamber of Commerce official ribbon cutting.

Meanwhile, I see the Ponderosa Steakhouse has finally closed. I've only eaten there once in the last five years and I've been told the quality and cleanliness has gone way downhill. Guess that means more business for the other breakfast places in town.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Thoughts on the Poshard Situation

I was discussing the Poshard situation with a friend last night. No matter what happens, it hurts the university. Now, I'm working from the position that it was plagiarism or if not, sure smacks of it. I don't think anyone with any authority will ask for or force President Poshard to resign over this. He has too much support on the BOT and among faculty and staff as evidenced by the support he's gotten despite the fear of the AFAC. Additionally, there's no one waiting in the wings and a resignation would really impact the forward motion the university is showing. So, barring a third shoe dropping, not gonna happen.

On the other hand, given the excuses and justifications that have been made, what's to keep other plagiarists from offering up the same reasoning and request a do-over or the opportunity to bring their mistakenly plagiarized work up to accepted standards? If it's acceptable for the president of the university to be allowed to rework his work, why not a student? And I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the "standards have changed over the past 30 years" argument. I remember having to maintain standards when I wrote papers in the 70's and 80''s that were the same as what we have to do today. However this outcome, except to academic types, will hurt much less than the alternative of a resignation.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sales Tax Redeaux

I thought we had moved beyond the sales tax controversy and were busy raking President Poshard over the coals but this letter (scroll down towards the bottom to the Alfred Sanders letter) indicates otherwise. Or has Jane Adams written another letter I haven't seen? A search of the SI archives doesn't show anything written by her since last month.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Speaking of Pell Grants

If you didn't catch this on the news today, the Secretary of Education announced the largest increase in Pell grants in 30 years. A student's maximum grant will increase to $4600 next year and $5400 over the next 5 years.

Cafe Euro For Rent

After opening up with a lot of hoopla and generally positive customer response, hooka bar and coffee shop Cafe Euro closed up for a week in late April for family emergencies. That week stretched out all summer and now there are "For Rent" signs plastered all over the front of the building. If you're interested, give Larry at Pagliai's Pizza and Pasta a call (457.0321)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

9/11 Memorial Service

While I was reading the DE today, I caught this article which got me to thinking about the lack of 9/11 events in Carbondale. Aside from a mention of it during Mass this morning, I don't recall hearing of any planned events or memorials specific to Carbondale. I know flags were at half staff but that was a statewide thing. Were there events here and I just missed them?

Post-Dispatch Article

In case you missed it, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had an article on the Poshard situation. From the article:

In a related development, the Chronicle of Higher Education said in a story today that Poshard’s 1975 master’s thesis at SIU also appears to have some portions lifted from other sources without proper attribution. The issues with the master’s thesis are "considerably more minor" than those found in the dissertation, "but suggest a similar cut-and-paste methodology," the story says.

Dave Gross, an SIU spokesman, said the school has not yet seen the details of this accusation.

"But the single press account of it confirms again that Dr. Poshard’s underlying scholarship is not in question -- that these are technical and stylistic differences of opinion that date back decades," Gross said.

Kerthump!

That is the sound of the other shoe dropping. According to WSIU this morning, as well as this article in the Southern Illinoisan, the Chronicle of Higher Education is preparing an article on questionable passages in Pres. Poshard's 1975 master's thesis as well as his 1984 dissertation.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

What if?

I was just discussing the Poshard situation with my Dad and he asked a good question: What would be done if this information came out and Glenn Poshard was an instructor or professor instead of the head of the university?

Lack of Support for Poshard?

Looks to me as if President Poshard has gotten quite a bit of support from the SIUC/Carbondale community, but according to this editorial in today's Southern Illinoisan, anyone who comes out in support of him should fear the AFAC:

AFAC should now do the right thing and allow Poshard to know who his accusers are. It also might calm the generally roiling academic waters at SIU. Who would dare to take a position in support of Poshard and risk a counter-attack by a shadowy group of accusers?

SIUC PR Office Keeps Busy

Mike's Music Moves

I don't know when the move actually took place but I see that Mike's Music has downsized and moved next door into the space formerly occupied by The Cat's Meow, which has either moved or closed. If you're looking to rent a space targeting college students and didn't want a large one, this would be pretty good, sandwiched as it is between Mike's Music and World's Finest/Campus Comics.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Turnitin

From what I've read, one of the problems that led to to the plagiarisms problem was the BOT's reliance on the use of Turnitin to test Pres. Poshard's dissertation. For those not familiar with Turnitin, it has become a fairly standard method of checking papers for plagiarism. Basically, you upload the paper in question to Turnitin, the program checks the paper against other papers in its database and reports what percentage of the paper appears copied from other papers in the database and where the papers in question can be found. Once a paper is submitted, it becomes part of the database for future searches. I know of instructors who routinely have all students run their papers through Turnitin before submitting them.

A downside to the program is what appears to have happened in this case. If papers or books aren't in the database or online, Turnitin can't check against them so returns a result of no plagiarism present. The materials in question are old and obscure enough that no one has put them online, ergo they are not accessible for comparison by Turnitin.

I have used Turnitin to catch plagiarized materials in class. A group of students turned in a term paper incorporating concepts more appropriate to a graduate level than an undergraduate class. When I ran it through Turnitin, it showed 90% of the paper had come from another source, specifically a paper from the Wharton School of Business website. If you're going to steal, steal from the best, says I.

WDBX Pledge Drive

The WDBX Pledge Drive is going on now. Below is the email I received about it. Looks like memberships are much less than at WSIU but you don't get a spiffy dining card either. If you really want to make some people happy, call in your pledge during Curtis Conley's show, Absolutely No Banjo's, 10 - Midnight tonight.

Call in your pledge at 618-457-3691 or or go on line WDBX from link at www.carbondalemainstreet.com Thanks! Please include your name and address with on-line donations.

Annual Student Membership - $10.00 per year

Household Membership - $25.00 per year

Patron Membership - $100.00 per year

(receives a WDBX windbreaker in your choice of size and color)

Supreme Membership - $250.00 per year

(receives a WDBX windbreaker in your choice of size and color and 2 tickets to the February 2007 WDBX Ball)

Friday, September 7, 2007

Makanda Fish Fry

If you're looking for something a little different for dinner tomorrow, there's a fish fry at the Makanda Community Center from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. I believe the money is going to help fund the Makanda Veterans Memorial.

Chicago Tribune Editorial

In an editorial today, the Chicago Tribune calls for President Poshard to step down. Oh, and the Board of Trustees is having a special meeting on Monday. Apparently, they're not going to wait for the Faculty Senate to weigh in.

Local Foods

Looking for sources of local foods? The Local Harvest website lists three here in Carbondale, thought apparently Arnold's and the Downtown Farmer's Market haven't listed and the Westside Farmer's Market hasn't updated its listing since 2000. After that, you've got to go to Pomona, Grand Tower and Cape Girardeau or the Murphysboro and Anna farmer's markets.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Blue Ribbon Panel

Also on the Faculty Senate's agenda for next Tuesday is a resolution asking the BOT to appoint a blue-ribbon panel to investigate the accusations of plagiarism. Not just a panel but a blue-ribbon one! Anyway, the meeting's scheduled for next Tuesday at 1p.m. in the Kaskasia-Missouri rooms at the Student Center. Not sure if it's open to the public though.

On the Faculty Senate's Agenda

Resolution to Censure the Anonymous Group, “Alumni and Faculty against Corruption at SIU” (AFAC) WHEREAS the politically motivated initiatives of “Alumni and Faculty against Corruption at SIU” (hereafter “AFAC”), are not likely to end with the current plagiarism accusations against President Poshard, regardless of the outcome; and WHEREAS AFAC’s methods of achieving their goals are tarnishing the image of the entire university; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that 1) Faculty Senate strongly censure AFAC for its use of inappropriate methods to tarnish the image and reputation of faculty and staff at SIU; and 2) that Faculty Senate recommend SIU’s Board of Trustees also strongly censures AFEC.

So Now What?

The Department of Higher Education has decided not to review Pres. Poshard's dissertation. The University hasn't started an investigation into the charges either, so the whole thing hangs in limbo currently. Despite what we would like, it's really hard to stop something like this once it's started. The quicker the situation gets resolved, the better off SIUC will be.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Less-Fruit Year

Given the hit the area took in terms of frozen out strawberries, blueberrries and peaches, I'm not particularly surprised at the lack of apples in the area. Lipe's says all their apples were frozen off this year and I didn't see anyone selling them at the Murdale Farmer's Market last Saturday. Lightfoot had Golden Delicious and Jonathons at the downtown Farmer's Market but last Wednesday was the last date of the season for it.

If you want to make the trek to Alto Pass, Rendleman's has Jonathons, Golden Delicious and Galas this week.

Joan Friedenberg Steps Forward

Professor Emeritus Friedenberg says in this letter that she presented President Poshard with evidence of plagiarism at a meeting in 2006. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but nowhere in the letter does it specifically state that it was allegations of his plagiarisms that she presented during the meeting. Nor does it say that she was the one that gave the information to the DE.

Monday, September 3, 2007

More Hotel Rooms Needed?

Since the Southern Illinoisan made this a Poshard free holiday, my eye was caught by this piece in the local section of the paper on the lack of hotel rooms, or not, in Carbondale. According to the article, There are about 850 rooms in Carbondale and Murphysboro. The Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau would like about 300 more. I remember hearing about four years ago that state sports tournaments avoided the 'dale because, while we had great facilities for them to use, we didn't have enough places for them to stay. Since then, with the addition of the Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Conference Center and the Ramada, we've added 244 rooms, which is probably still not enough to support the needs of a statewide tournament.

However, we're not really enough of a business hub to justify 1150 rooms. In the article, Charlie Brown of Charlie B. Brown and Associates here in Carbondale says the Holiday Inn Conference Center, which his firm helped develop, hasn't met profit projections and probably won't for a couple of more years. Anecdotally, whenever I drive by any of the hotels in town, unless it's a weekend, there are only a scattering of cars in the lot. I counted 5 in the Hampton's lot as I drove by today. That's not enough to sustain a business. I assume the current hotels are doing well enough to stay in business now but what would adding 2 to 3 more hotels do to their profitability?

Local H.S. sports site launched

Just heard from Don Laur about his 618 football website, which has been getting from 1100 to 1600 unique visitors per day. But, Carbondale hasn't had much of a showing. Seems like he's been shut out from appearing in the Southern due to the threat of competition. Not only that but they launched a site very similar to Don's, including a pick 'em contest (which starts in week 3) offering a cash prize.

Since Don can't get the word out like the big boys and since they will not do a story on him, he's asked me to blog it!

Here's the press release:

618football.com is an action-packed new website community that focuses on Illinois high school football teams and fans from the 618 area code, which currently includes 68 teams in Southern Illinois, Central Illinois, Southeastern Illinois, and St. Louis Metro Illinois. This website is intended to be THE online meeting place for 618 football information, including team profiles, schedules, rankings, and scores, with other features being added as the season develops.

Why the 618 area code? The Southern area of Illinois is typically considered the area that includes the River-to-River, the South Seven, and the Black Diamond conferences. Teams in these conferences are the football teams predominantly covered by the regional print, radio, and television media. The most immediate coverage area includes some tremendous powerhouse football traditions, but why stop there? The South Seven conference includes Belleville Altoff and Cahokia. Those are generally considered St. Louis Metro Illinois teams. Illinois high school sports teams in this area could be considered out of Southern Illinois. The functionality of 618football.com will allow grouping by enrollment or the school size, but remember there are some good small school programs in this coverage area as well. Conferences would work, but in some cases would take us too far outside our area. This is why the 618 area code is the separation point and the name of the online community is 618football.com.

Don Laur, a former DuQuoin High School football player and '93 alum, developed 618football.com, out of his love for Southern Illinois high school football and as a Master's Project to complete his degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

For more information, visit the site and talk to Laur personally. Advertising availability is currently being offered to offset the cost of hosting the site and marketing materials. Laur can also be reached by phone at 618-201-4460.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Silver Screen Tanning and Video Closes

I was driving by the strip mall at the corner of Grand and Wall and saw a For Lease sign hanging on the store. Never heard anything about them, never saw a single ad in any papers and a quick look through the telephone books doesn't show any listings for them in either the white or yellow pages.

Carterville and Herrin Papers Corrected Post

Apparently, the Carterville Courier and Herrin Independent both knew about the Poshard story three or so months ago. However from a post in the comments by the editor of both papers, neither printed anything about the story. I sit in front of the computer corrected.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

President Poshard Defends HImself

According to today's Southern Illinoisan, President Poshard has asked the College of Education to review his dissertation and tell him what changes should be made.

In a conversation I had today, the person I was talking with argued it was acceptable practice at the time, when quoting large blocks of text, to indent and footnote the cited text rather than highlighting it with quotation marks. I don't recall this as appropriate during my undergraduate years but my memory is hazy on the subject. Anyone more certain on the subject?